virus

virus,

parasite with a noncellular structure composed mainly of nucleic acidnucleic acid,any of a group of organic substances found in the chromosomes of living cells and viruses that play a central role in the storage and replication of hereditary information and in the expression of this information through protein synthesis......Click the link for more information. within a protein coat. Most viruses are too small (100–2,000 Angstrom units) to be seen with the light microscope and thus must be studied by electron microscopes. In one stage of their life cycle, in which they are free and infectious, virus particles do not carry out the functions of living cells, such as respiration and growth; in the other stage, however, viruses enter living plant, animal, or bacterial cells and make use of the host cell's chemical energy and its protein- and nucleic acid–synthesizing ability to replicate themselves.

The existence of submicroscopic infectious agents was suspected by the end of the 19th cent.; in 1892 the Russian botanist Dimitri Iwanowski showed that the sap from tobacco plants infected with mosaic disease, even after being passed through a porcelain filter known to retain all bacteria, contained an agent that could infect other tobacco plants. In 1900 a similarly filterable agent was reported for foot-and-mouth diseasefoot-and-mouth diseaseor hoof-and-mouth disease,highly contagious disease almost exclusive to cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and other cloven-hoofed animals. It is caused by a virus, specifically an aphthovirus, that was identified in 1897......Click the link for more information. of cattle. In 1935 the American virologist W. M. Stanley crystallized tobacco mosaic virus; for that work Stanley shared the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with J. H. Northrup and J. B. Summer. Later studies of virus crystals established that the crystals were composed of individual virus particles, or virions. By the early 21st cent. the understanding of viruses had grown to the point where scientists synthesized (2002) a strain of poliovirus using their knowledge of that virus's genetic code and chemical components required.

Viral Structure

Typically the protein coat, or capsid, of an individual virus particle, or virion, is composed of multiple copies of one or several types of protein subunits, or capsomeres. Some viruses contain enzymes, and some have an outer membranous envelope. Many viruses have striking geometrically regular shapes, with helical structure as in tobacco mosaic virus, polyhedral (often icosahedral) symmetry as in herpes virus, or more complex mixtures of arrangements as in large viruses, such as the pox viruses and the larger bacterial viruses, or bacteriophagesbacteriophage, virus that infects bacteria and sometimes destroys them by lysis, or dissolution of the cell. Bacteriophages, or phages, have a head composed of protein, an inner core of nucleic acid—either deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA)—and a.....Click the link for more information.. Certain viruses, such as bacteriophages, have complex protein tails. The inner viral genetic material—the nucleic acid—may be double stranded, with two complementary strands, or single stranded; it may be deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA). The nucleic acid specifies information for the synthesis of from a few to 50 different proteins, depending on the type of virus.

Viral Infection of a Host Cell

A free virus particle may be thought of as a packaging device by which viral genetic material can be introduced into appropriate host cells, which the virus can recognize by means of proteins on its outermost surface. A bacterial virus infects the cell by attaching fibers of its protein tail to a specific receptor site on the bacterial cell wall and then injecting the nucleic acid into the host, leaving the empty capsid outside. In viruses with a membrane envelope the nucleocapsid (capsid plus nucleic acid) enters the cell cytoplasm by a process in which the viral envelope merges with a host cell membrane, often the membrane delimiting an endocytic structure (see endocytosisendocytosis, in biology, process by which substances are taken into the cell. When the cell membrane comes into contact with a suitable food, a portion of the cell cytoplasm surges forward to meet and surround the material and a depression forms within the cell wall......Click the link for more information.) in which the virus has been engulfed.

Within the cell the virus nucleic acid uses the host machinery to make copies of the viral nucleic acid as well as enzymes needed by the virus and coats and enveloping proteins, the coat proteins of the virus. The details of the process by which the information in viral nucleic acid is expressed and the sites in the cell where the virus locates vary according to the type of nucleic acid the virus contains and other viral features. As viral components are formed within a host cell, virions are created by a self-assembly process; that is, capsomere subunits spontaneously assemble into a protein coat around the nucleic core. Release of virus particles from the host may occur by lysis of the host cell, as in bacteria, or by budding from the host cell's surface that provides the envelope of membrane-enveloped forms.

Some viruses do not kill host cells but rather persist within them in one form or another. For example, certain of the viruses that can transform cells into a cancerous state (see cancercancer,in medicine, common term for neoplasms, or tumors, that are malignant. Like benign tumors, malignant tumors do not respond to body mechanisms that limit cell growth......Click the link for more information.) are retroviruses; their genetic material is RNA but they carry an enzyme that can copy the RNA's information into DNA molecules, which then can integrate into the genetic apparatus of the host cell and reside there, generating corresponding products via host cell machinery (see also retrovirusretrovirus,type of RNA virus that, unlike other RNA viruses, reproduces by transcribing itself into DNA. An enzyme called reverse transcriptase allows a retrovirus's RNA to act as the template for this RNA-to-DNA transcription......Click the link for more information.). Similarly, in bacterial DNA viruses known as temperate phages, the viral nucleic acid becomes integrated into the host cell chromosomal material, a condition known as lysogeny; lysogenic phages are similar in many ways to genetic particles in bacterial cells called episomesepisome, unit of genetic material composed of a series of genes that sometimes has an independent existence in a host cell and at other times is integrated into a chromosome of the cell, replicating itself along with the chromosome. Episomes have been studied in bacteria......Click the link for more information. (see recombinationrecombination,process of "shuffling" of genes by which new combinations can be generated. In recombination through sexual reproduction, the offspring's complete set of genes differs from that of either parent, being rather a combination of genes from both parents......Click the link for more information.).

Viral Diseases

Some human diseases are apparently caused by the body's response to virus infection: immune reaction to altered virus-infected cells, release by infected cells of inflammatory substances, or circulation in the body of virus-antibody complexes are all virus-caused immunological disorders. Viruses cause many diseases of economically important animals and plants, some transmitted by carriers such as insects. A retrovirus (HIVHIV,human immunodeficiency virus, either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States......Click the link for more information.) causes AIDSAIDSor acquired immunodeficiency syndrome,fatal disease caused by a rapidly mutating retrovirus that attacks the immune system and leaves the victim vulnerable to infections, malignancies, and neurological disorders. It was first recognized as a disease in 1981......Click the link for more information., several viruses (e.g. Epstein-Barr virusEpstein-Barr virus(EBV), herpesvirus that is the major cause of infectious mononucleosis and is associated with a number of cancers, particularly lymphomas in immunosuppressed persons, including persons with AIDS......Click the link for more information., human papillomavirushuman papillomavirus(HPV), any of a family of more than 60 viruses that cause various growths, including plantar warts and genital warts, a sexually transmitted disease. Detectable warts can be or removed, usually by chemicals, freezing, or laser, but often recur......Click the link for more information.) cause particular forms of cancer in humans, and many have been shown to cause tumors in animals. Other viruses that infect humans cause measlesmeaslesor rubeola, highly contagious disease of young children, caused by a filterable virus and spread by droplet spray from the nose, mouth, and throat of individuals in the infective stage......Click the link for more information., mumpsmumps(epidemic parotitis), acute contagious viral disease, manifesting itself chiefly in pain and swelling of the salivary glands, especially those at the angle of the jaw. Other symptoms are fever, a general feeling of illness, and pain on chewing or swallowing......Click the link for more information., smallpoxsmallpox,acute, highly contagious disease causing a high fever and successive stages of severe skin eruptions. Occurring worldwide in epidemics, it killed up to 40% of those who contracted it and accounted for more deaths over time than any other infectious disease......Click the link for more information., yellow feveryellow fever,acute infectious disease endemic in tropical Africa and many areas of South and Central America. Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in stagnant water near human habitations......Click the link for more information., rabiesrabiesor hydrophobia, acute viral infection of the central nervous system in dogs, foxes, raccoons, skunks, bats, and other animals, and in humans. The virus is transmitted from an animal to a person, or from one animal to another, via infected saliva, most often by.....Click the link for more information., poliomyelitispoliomyelitis, polio,or infantile paralysis,acute viral infection, mainly of children but also affecting older persons. There are three immunologic types of poliomyelitis virus, one of which was eradicated in 1999; exposure to one type produces immunity.....Click the link for more information., influenzainfluenzaor flu,acute, highly contagious disease caused by a RNA virus (family Orthomyxoviridae); formerly known as the grippe. There are three types of the virus, designated A, B, and C, but only types A and B cause more serious contagious infections......Click the link for more information., and the common coldcold, common,acute viral infection of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat, often involving the sinuses. The typical sore throat, sneezing, and fatigue may be accompanied by body aches, headache, low fever, and chills......Click the link for more information..

The techniques of molecular biology and genetic engineering have made possible the development of antiviral drugsantiviral drug,any of several drugs used to treat viral infections. The drugs act by interfering with a virus's ability to enter a host cell and replicate itself with the host cell's DNA......Click the link for more information. effective against a variety of viral infections. Viruses, like bacterial infective agents, act as antigens in the body and elicit the formation of antibodiesantibody,protein produced by the immune system (see immunity) in response to the presence in the body of antigens: foreign proteins or polysaccharides such as bacteria, bacterial toxins, viruses, or other cells or proteins......Click the link for more information. in an infected individual (see immunityimmunity,ability of an organism to resist disease by identifying and destroying foreign substances or organisms. Although all animals have some immune capabilities, little is known about nonmammalian immunity......Click the link for more information.). Indeed, vaccines against viral diseases such as smallpox were developed before the causative agents were known. Some viruses stimulate cellular production of interferoninterferon, any of a group of proteins produced by cells in the body in response to an attack by a virus. A cell infected by a virus releases minute amounts of interferons, which attach themselves to neighboring cells, prompting them to start producing their own protective.....Click the link for more information., which inhibits viral growth within the infected cell.

Classification

Viruses are not usually classified into conventional taxonomic groups but are usually grouped according to such properties as size, the type of nucleic acid they contain, the structure of the capsid and the number of protein subunits in it, host species, and immunological characteristics.

Bibliography

See C. Zimmer, A Planet of Viruses (2011).

Virus

Any of a heterogeneous class of agents that share three characteristics: (1) They consist of a nucleic acid genome surrounded by a protective protein shell, which may itself be enclosed within an envelope that includes a membrane; (2) they multiply only inside living cells, and are absolutely dependent on the host cells' synthetic and energy-yielding apparatus; (3) the initial step in multiplication is the physical separation of the viral genome from its protective shell, a process known as uncoating, which differentiates viruses from all other obligatorily intracellular parasites. In essence, viruses are nucleic acid molecules, that is, genomes that can enter cells, replicate in them, and encode proteins capable of forming protective shells around them. Terms such as “organism” and “living” are not applicable to viruses. It is preferable to refer to them as functionally active or inactive rather than living or dead.

Electron micrographs of highly purified preparations of some viruses

The primary significance of viruses lies in two areas. First, viruses destroy or modify the cells in which they multiply; they are potential pathogens capable of causing disease. Many of the most important diseases that afflict humankind, including rabies, smallpox, poliomyelitis, hepatitis, influenza, the common cold, measles, mumps, chickenpox, herpes, rubella, hemorrhagic fevers, and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are caused by viruses. Viruses also cause diseases in livestock and plants that are of great economic importance. SeeAcquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), Plant pathology

Second, viruses provide the simplest model systems for many basic problems in biology. Their genomes are often no more than one-millionth the size of, for example, the human genome; yet the principles that govern the behavior of viral genes are the same as those that control the behavior of human genes. Viruses thus afford unrivaled opportunities for studying mechanisms that control the replication and expression of genetic material. SeeHuman Genome Project

Although viruses differ widely in shape and size (see illustration), they are constructed according to certain common principles. Basically, viruses consist of nucleic acid and protein. The nucleic acid is the genome which contains the information necessary for virus multiplication and survival, the protein is arranged around the genome in the form of a layer or shell that is termed the capsid, and the structure consisting of shell plus nucleic acid is the nucleocapsid. Some viruses are naked nucleocapsids. In others, the nucleocapsid is surrounded by a lipid bilayer to the outside of which “spikes” composed of glycoproteins are attached; this is termed the envelope. The complete virus particle is known as the virion, a term that denotes both intactness of structure and the property of infectiousness.

Viral genomes are astonishingly diverse. Some are DNA, others RNA; some are double-stranded, others single-stranded; some are linear, others circular; some have plus polarity, other minus (or negative) polarity; some consist of one molecule, others of several (up to 12). They range from 3000 to 280,000 base pairs if double-stranded, and from 5000 to 27,000 nucleotides if single-stranded. SeeVirus classification

Viral genomes encode three types of genetic information. First, they encode the structural proteins of virus particles. Second, most viruses encode enzymes capable of transcribing their genomes into messenger RNA molecules that are then translated by host-cell ribosomes, as well as nucleic acid polymerases capable of replicating their genomes; many viruses also encode nonstructural proteins with catalytic and other functions necessary for virus particle maturation and morphogenesis. Third, many viruses encode proteins that interact with components of host-cell defense mechanisms against invading infectious agents. The more successful these proteins are in neutralizing these defenses, the more virulent viruses are.

The two most commonly observed virus-cell interactions are the lytic interaction, which results in virus multiplication and lysis of the host cell; and the transforming interaction, which results in the integration of the viral genome into the host genome and the permanent transformation or alteration of the host cell with respect to morphology, growth habit, and the manner in which it interacts with other cells. Transformed animal and plant cells are also capable of multiplying; they often grow into tumors, and the viruses that cause such transformation are known as tumor viruses. SeeRetrovirus, Tumor viruses

There is little that can be done to interfere with the growth of viruses, since they multiply within cells, using the cells' synthetic capabilities. The process, interruption of which has met with the most success in preventing virus multiplication, is the replication of viral genomes, which is almost always carried out by virus-encoded enzymes that do not exist in uninfected cells and are therefore excellent targets for antiviral chemotherapy. Another viral function that has been targeted is the cleavage of polyproteins, precursors of structural proteins, to their functional components by virus-encoded proteases; this strategy is being used with some success in AIDS patients. SeeCytomegalovirus infection, Herpes, Influenza

Antiviral agents on which much interest is focused are the interferons. Interferons are cytokines or lymphokines that regulate cellular genes concerned with cell division and the functioning of the immune system. Their formation is strongly induced by virus infection; they provide the first line of defense against viral infections until antibodies begin to form. Interferons interfere with the multiplication of viruses by preventing the translation of early viral messenger RNAs. As a result, viral capsid proteins cannot be formed and no viral progeny results.

By far the most effective means of preventing viral diseases is by means of vaccines. There are two types of antiviral vaccines, inactivated virus vaccines and attenuated active virus vaccines. Most of the antiviral vaccines currently in use are of the latter kind. The principle of antiviral vaccines is that inactivated virulent or active attenuated virus particles cause the formation of antibodies that neutralize a virulent virus when it invades the body. SeeAnimal virus, Plant viruses and viroids, Vaccination, Virus, defective

virus

[′vī·rəs]

(computer science)

A computer program that replicates itself and transfers itself to another computing system.

(virology)

A large group of infectious agents ranging from 10 to 250 nanometers in diameter, composed of a protein sheath surrounding a nucleic acid core and capable of infecting all animals, plants, and bacteria; characterized by total dependence on living cells for reproduction and by lack of independent metabolism.

virus

1. any of a group of submicroscopic entities consisting of a single nucleic acid chain surrounded by a protein coat and capable of replication only within the cells of living organisms: many are pathogenic

2.Computing an unauthorized program that inserts itself into a computer system and then propagates itself to other computers via networks or disks; when activated it interferes with the operation of the computer www.tulane.edu/~dmsander/garryfavweb.html

virus

(security)

(By analogy with biological viruses, via SF) A
program or piece of code written by a cracker that "infects"
one or more other programs by embedding a copy of itself in
them, so that they become Trojan horses. When these
programs are executed, the embedded virus is executed too,
thus propagating the "infection". This normally happens
invisibly to the user.

A virus has an "engine" - code that enables it to propagate
and optionally a "payload" - what it does apart from
propagating. It needs a "host" - the particular hardware and
software environment on which it can run and a "trigger" - the
event that starts it running.

Unlike a worm, a virus cannot infect other computers without
assistance. It is propagated by vectors such as humans
trading programs with their friends (see SEX). The virus
may do nothing but propagate itself and then allow the program
to run normally. Usually, however, after propagating silently
for a while, it starts doing things like writing "cute"
messages on the terminal or playing strange tricks with the
display (some viruses include display hacks). Viruses
written by particularly antisocial crackers may do
irreversible damage, like deleting files.

By the 1990s, viruses had become a serious problem, especially
among IBM PC and Macintosh users (the lack of security on
these machines enables viruses to spread easily, even
infecting the operating system). The production of special
antivirus software has become an industry, and a number of
exaggerated media reports have caused outbreaks of near
hysteria among users. Many lusers tend to blame
*everything* that doesn't work as they had expected on virus
attacks. Accordingly, this sense of "virus" has passed into
popular usage where it is often incorrectly used for a worm
or Trojan horse.

virus

Software used to infect a computer. After the virus code is written, it is buried within an existing program. Once that program is executed, the virus code is activated and attaches copies of itself to other programs in the computer and other computers in the network. Infected programs continue to propagate the virus, which is how it spreads.

The effect of the virus may be a simple prank that pops up a message on screen out of the blue, or it may destroy programs and data right away or on a certain date. For example, the famous Michelangelo virus contaminated the machine on Michelangelo's birthday.

Viruses Must Be Run to Do Damage A virus is a self-contained program that attaches itself to an existing application in a manner that causes it to be executed when the application is run. Macro viruses are similar. The virus code has replaced some or all of the macro commands. Likewise, it is in the execution of the macro that the damage is done (see macro language).

"In the Wild" The term "computer virus" was coined in the early 1980s, supposedly after a graduate student presented the concept of a program that could "infect" other programs. Since then, more than a million viruses have been defined. However, the bulk of the infections are from only a few hundred active variants, said to be "in the wild."

Virus Theory John von Neumann theorized that a computer program could replicate itself in his 1949 paper "Theory and Organization of Complicated Automata," and computer scientist Fred Cohen described the logic for several types of viruses in his 1984 paper "Computer Viruses - Theory and Experiments." See von Neumann architecture.

Windows Vs. Mac

Almost all Windows users install an antivirus program in their computers, while many Mac users do not. Windows computers are attacked constantly, because they make up the huge majority of personal computers and are therefore the low-hanging fruit. In addition, the Mac is a Unix-based machine, and the Unix architecture separates the operating system from the applications, which makes it harder to crack, although not impossible. While the majority of Mac users do not use antivirus software, there have indeed been successful virus attacks against Macs, and Mac users are installing antivirus more than they have in the past. See antivirus program.

A Disease - Really?

The concept of a computer "disease" seemed rather foreign in 1989 when this caption from the definition for virus in "The Computer Glossary" was published. Back then, nobody would have believed that millions of viruses were to follow.

These studies demonstrate the production of an interferon binding protein by variola virus and monkeypox virus, and point at this viral anti-interferon protein as a target to develop new therapeutics and protect people from smallpox and related viruses," said Antonio Alcami, Ph.

Monkeypox virus seems to be less contagious than some other viral diseases such as measles and smallpox, and it appears that human populations alone cannot sustain transmission, but health officials were reluctant to make predictions.

So far in 2008, the Aethlon Hemopurifier[R] has demonstrated rapid in vitro capture of H5N1 avian Influenza (Bird Flu), the reconstructed 1918 Influenza virus, West Nile virus, and Monkeypox virus, which serve as a model for human Smallpox infection.

An outbreak of an unidentified rash illness in humans, associated with sick prairie dogs, occurred in the upper mid-western United States in 2003, and EM detected a poxvirus from a cell culture isolate, which was later characterized as monkeypox virus (7,8).

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